Philly Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
by DianaDirectioner
Summary: Philomela "Philly" Jackson is no hero. No savior. No brave rescuer. She's just Philly Jackson; a teenager with dyslexia, ADHD, and a love for swimming. Well, she was...
1. Δεν Ήρωας (No Hero)

_**Hey, everyone! After all this time taking a step away from fan fictions to write my own book, I am here with my first attempt at a Percy Jackson story. As I've decided to make Percy into Philly (Short for Philomela), the other characters in the main trio are gender-bent as well. Grover is now Greysen (my best friend's name) and Annabeth is Aradon. I'm excited to keep this one going and I should be able to write more chapters for my other stories.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Philly Jackson. This was the name that became famous after sixteen years of being hidden from the world. Philly, short for Philomela Jackson, was the daughter of Poseidon, the princess of the sea, and the girl who saved the world. To most who knew her, however, she is just Philly, daughter of Sally Jackson, selectively social music nerd, and the girl who has dyslexia. Philly had shortened her name because her mom had picked some weird Greek name and she didn't want to be teased for it. She is no hero. No savior. She is just Philly.

Well, at least she _was_.

I believe we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Let's begin where this whole thing started: the top of the Empire State Building in New York...

* * *

A tall figure stood, watching the skyline as it rumbled with thunder. No lightning streaked across the sky, just the clapping noise of thunder. The darkness of night made the man's figure appear as just that; dark. The man wore an unpleasant expression, yet he didn't speak. The man watched the sky in silence, almost as though he were waiting for someone to arrive or something to happen.

"Zeus," a male voice called from behind the silent man. The first man turned to face the new company, watching the man come forward and stand beside him. The men looked at each other for a moment.

"Poseidon," Zeus responded.

Poseidon nodded slightly. "It has been many years."

Zeus turned back to face the sky, resting his right hand on one of the metal bars in front of him as he spoke, "What do you see?"

Poseidon looked to the sky, switching his gaze between it and his company before looking around at the dark sky around them. "Thunder clouds."

"With no lightning," Zeus claimed. He dropped his hand from the metal bar as Poseidon turned to him. "It's stolen." Zeus wandered away from Poseidon and the skyline view.

"What? Do you think _I_ took it?" Poseidon turned and fell into step with Zeus as he spoke yet again, "Omnipotence has blinded you, brother. We are forbidden from stealing each others' powers."

Zeus halted, causing Poseidon to stop as well. "But our children aren't."

Poseidon gave the man an incredulous look. "You're accusing my daughter. I haven't seen her since she was a baby; she doesn't know me or even know who she is because of you."

"If your daughter is the thief, I will send her to the depths of Tartarus-"

Poseidon immediately cut Zeus off, grasping the man's jacket and speaking in a low, dark voice as thunder rumbled loudly around them, "If you touch her, you will have the fight of your life."

Zeus looked away a little before throwing his arms up and knocking Poseidon's hands off of his jacket. The two men glared at each other furiously before Zeus spoke again, "She must return the bolt to me in fourteen days, by midnight on the summer solstice." The man turned at took a few steps away with his warning still lingering in the air. Poseidon watched the man leave, glaring at his brother's retreating back. Zeus turned back to Poseidon and spoke once more, "Or there will be war."

Zeus threw his arm out toward a nearby door and watched it shatter open. A bright light shone from where the door had previously been. The two men glanced at each other one last time before Zeus turned and walked through the bright doorway. As soon as the man was gone, pieces of the door that had been shattered, started to piece themselves back together, forming the door back into the way it had been before being destroyed.

* * *

The next day, a dark haired, bright eyed teenager sat peacefully at the bottom of a pool. The teen had her hands resting on her legs, feeling the water move around her slowly. Her raven-like black hair floated around her, gliding through the chlorinated water and swirling gracefully around her arms and back. Her sea green eyes glimmered brightly in the water as she looked around. Water was always calming to the teenager. Being underwater felt like being in another home; like an escape of sorts. She felt at peace, but thoughtful when she let water envelope her. As her mom had always said, she was a water baby.

Philly Jackson had loved being in water for as long as she could remember and probably even longer than that. Even if it was just sitting in the bathtub at home, Philly loved the feeling of having clear thoughts under the surface of the water. Her thoughts were never concise and her mind was never blank, but when she was in the, usually warm, water, her head was free and calm. Philly loved the water in general, but her favorite was the salty water of the ocean. Trips to the ocean were rare, but, when they did occur, Philly's mom had to practically drag her away. Because of this well-known love for water, the teen's longest as closest friend, Greysen Underwood, had wanted Philly to stay underwater for as long as she could before getting some air. Well, before they had to get out of the pool area and head out for class, that is. So, that's exactly what she was doing.

Well, mostly.

If she was completely honest, Philly felt like she could stay underwater forever. The water was, like previously stated, a second home; it was calm, quiet, and relaxing. It was the easiest to be herself underwater. The only downside to this feeling of careless abandon was that nobody else could see this side of her usually loud brain, but her. Philly's brain was almost as clear as the water around her, but she knew she had to go back to the noise of the surface soon. After a moment longer, Philly sighed mentally, releasing her hold on her knees. Deciding not to scare her friend into thinking she had drowned in the pool, Philly moved her hands out to she side and used her legs to propel her to the surface of the water.

"And she's alive!" Greysen called from her spot on the bench next to the pool. Philly smiled at her best friend before swimming over to the edge of the pool. With a laugh and a clap the dark-haired Greysen continued, "Philly Jackson is a beast! You're a beast, girl!" Greysen gave Philly a high five, grasping onto Philly's hand and pulling her from the water.

"How long was that?" Philly asked, pushing some hair over her shoulder.

"Seven minutes," Greysen claimed.

Philly looked up at her friend curiously. "Seven minutes?" _'Seriously? It felt shorter than that. I'd probably believe three minutes before I'd believe seven,'_ Philly thought to herself, accepting the towel Greysen had given her. _'Well, Grey's pretty good about telling the truth, so I'll take it, I guess.'_

"Mmhm," Greysen hummed in agreement, "That's crazy, Philly. That's ridiculous. How do you do it?"

Philly rubbed the towel over her hair a couple times and shrugged, "I just like being in water. It's the one place I can just think."

The two girls shared a look as Greysen hummed once again. Philly got up from the tiled floor and grabbed her bag of clothes. She headed for the locker room and quickly changed outfits, tossing her wet swimsuit in her bag with her towel wrapped precariously around it to keep it from soaking anything else. The raven haired girl loosely braided her dripping hair, tying the ends of it with a small elastic that she kept in her backpack.

After getting ready for the school day, Philly and Greysen headed out from the pool and toward the first class of the day in Yancy Academy. Philly and Greysen talked on the way to class, Greysen doing most of the listening as Philly talked about her love for water.

"Y'know, I wish I could spend all day in the water instead of this place," Philly mumbled to Greysen.

"I know, right. Like high school, without the musical," Greysen replied, walking beside Philly as they went through the halls of the high school. Behind them, a couple of guys were messing around, shoving each other and pushing each other into lockers. "Every day is the same thing," Greysen sighed, tossing a disapproving glare at the boys behind them. "I mean, just look at this. They've got the IQ of goldfish."

Philly chuckled softly with her friend, letting the girl with crutches lead the way into the classroom. Philly sat at her desk in front of Greysen and placed her book, a notebook, and some pencils on her desk. Philly opened her notebook to one of the last pages and started drawing. Drawing was like swimming, it distracted her from the world and she actually focused on what she doodled. For the last couple of days, Philly had been drawing different aspects of the ocean. Starfish, dolphins, sharks, a dumbo octopus, and a couple sparse blobfish scattered across the lined paper.

A couple minutes went by before the teacher came in and set her stuff down on the desk. She wrote out a quote from Othello on the board before turning to the class. "Good morning," she began, crossing her arms. "I'm Mrs. Dodds, your substitute English teacher. Would someone please explain what Shakespeare was trying to convey in this line from Othello?" Philly set down her pencil and looked anywhere, but the board, refusing to raise her hand and make a fool out of herself. The teacher looked around the room before her gaze settled on Philly. "Philly Jackson."

Philly looked up at her teacher before attempting to read what was on the board. Philly tilted her head a little as she watched the words on the board. For a moment, they remained the same, however, they soon began to switch around and make nonsense. "Well?" Mrs. Dodds pressed as she watched Philly gaze at the board.

Philly tried to make sense of what was written, but nothing was working. The words just looked wrong. Philly shook her head lightly, closing her eyes and turning away from the board. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Dodds. I don't know."

Mrs Dodds continued the lesson as Philly disappointingly turned back to her notebook. Philly leaned back in her seat and slid forward, attempting to make herself small and hoping she would not have to speak for the rest of the class. Greysen put a hand on Philly's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It's okay, girl. I've got your back."

Philly put her hand over Grey's with a soft sigh. _'Can I just disappear now?'_ Philly thought to herself. At the moment, all she wanted was to go home.

* * *

At the end of the school day, Philly walked the streets of New York to the apartment she shared with her mom, Sally, and her step-father, Gabe. While on her walk, Philly waved to her neighbors and people she usually saw on her way home. Philly pulled her keys from her pocket as she neared the apartment complex. Swinging her keys on her finger, Philly greeted Mario Antenucci, a guy from the apartment above hers that never seemed to sleep.

"Hey, kid," Mario welcomed, "How's school?"

"Same old, same old," Philly smiled, "How's Xena?"

"She's better. Vet said that she's gonna give birth any time now." Mario had a female, purebred boxer that had recently been in a lot of pain. Since Philly was good with the dog, Mario let her know what was going on with his pup most of the time. "I didn' even know she was pregnant. To tell you the truth, I just thought she was gettin' fat. I guess I can get rid of the diet I was gonna put her on."

"I guess so!" Philly laughed, "Can I come visit them when they're born?"

Mario laughed, "Kid, Xena loves you. I don' think there's anybody else she trusts enough to hold her puppies. I'll let you know when she has them and you'll be the first outside the apartment to see them, alright?"

Philly grinned brightly, her eyes twinkling as she spoke, "I would love that, Mario. Thank you so much."

"Of course, sweetie," Mario chuckled, "Now, get your butt inside and get your homework done."

The obsidian haired girl headed inside and ascended the stairs to her apartment. "Hey, Mom, I'm home."

"I'm up here, honey!" Sally called from upstairs. When Philly headed inside, she saw her mom ironing some clothes. Sally looked up as her sixteen year old walked up to her. "Hi."

"Hey, Momma," Philly greeted as she tossed her backpack onto one of the chairs that sat around the dining room table.

"How was school?" Sally asked, setting the iron aside for a moment to hug her daughter.

"The usual," Philly sighed into her mom's shoulder. Sally's face fell from it's smile as she continued ironing once again. Philly picked up a book from the desk behind her mom and looked it over as she continued, "I think this dyslexia thing is getting worse."

"Oh," Sally sighed, "Why do you think that?"

Philly put the book back down on the desk and walked toward the dining room. "I don't know. Maybe it's the ADHD, not the dyslexia. I'm not sure. Y'know, I thought this school was supposed to make things better." Philly poured herself a cup of juice as she returned her gaze to her mom.

Sally gazed softly at her daughter. "Philly, I know how hard this is for you, but someday it'll all make sense."

"Really?" Philly asked, to which Sally nodded. "I really wish I knew when." Philly leaned against the archway between the dining room and the living room. "It could be tonight or tomorrow. I wish 'when' was now."

The conversation could have been a lot longer, but it was cut short by the door slamming shut and a voice calling out, "Woman." Philly groaned and rolled her eyes. Of course it was Gabe. She despised the man more than anything. He treated her mom terribly and nobody was allowed to do that. Philly and Sally had always been close; they didn't need this step-douche coming in and ruining their home. Even with the tensions between Philly and Gabe, Sally married the man and tried to play peacemaker between the two.

"Hi, Gabe," Sally welcomed.

"Where's my beer?" Gabe asked with a groan.

Sally gave him a look, yet responded anyway, "In the fridge."

"So, what?" Gabe started. Philly rolled her eyes, feeling like she knew what was going to happen next. "It's supposed to magically float from the ice box and into my hand?"

Sally put the iron aside and walked over to the fridge, glancing at Philly's annoyed face. As Sally walked by Gabe, the man smacked her rear. That was it for Philly. "Oh, come on, man! Do you really have to do that? It's disgusting. I mean, we're in a kitchen of all places. That's just wrong." Gabe took off his glasses as Sally grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened it, setting it on the table as Philly spoke again. "Real charmer you got there, Mom. Please show some respect, Gabe. That's my mom right there."

Gabe got up out of his seat and stood in front of Philly. Gabe leaned his arm on the wall next to Philly's head and moved in close before grabbing a handful of Philly's licorice colored hair and pushing her head back against the wall. "This is _my_ house," Gabe claimed. Philly bit her tongue to hold back her opinion as Sally shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Philly's sea green eyes locked with Gabe's, glaring harshly at the man that tugged on her hair. "You show some respect."

Gabe let go of the black strands and walked away. Philly spoke up softly, "Come on." Philly turned to her mom and stepped close to the woman. "Why, Mom? Why do you stay with that pig? He smells like a sewer. He sleeps in 'til noon every day and he can't even hold a job! Why do you stay with him?"

Sally eyes were watery, Philly could tell that her mom hated this just as much as she did. Sadly, Sally corrected herself and replied with the usual answer, "He's been good to us, Philly, in was you just don't understand."

' _Some_ _ **'good'**_ _,'_ Philly thought. _'The only thing Gabe has in him that has the word 'good' is that he's good for nothing.'_ Philly didn't speak her mind, for her mom's sake more than her own. She knew her mom was just playing mediator, but why couldn't she have picked a guy that was nicer and didn't treat both of them like dirt.

"You're right, Mom," Philly sighed, "I really don't understand. I don't get it."

Sally returned to ironing as Philly left the room. Philly headed to her bedroom and opened the window that led to her fire escape balcony. The licorice haired teen clambered outside her window and leaned on the railing, watching the cars and the people wandering the sidewalks. With a sigh, Philly reached back through her window and grabbed her notebook. She opened it to a blank page and stared at it for a while. She wanted to draw, but she wasn't sure what.

Deciding to let her mind roam free, Philomela let her pencil touch the paper and glide across the surface freely. Her hand slid across the parchment, lining arches and using the pads of her fingers to blend in some shading. Philly's hand swirled lightly, sketching two circles with smaller spheres inside of them. She elongated a couple lines, making sure to shade them properly before moving on. Soon, her mind caught up with her hand, making her stop in the middle of dragging the lead across the soft paper. In her mindless drawing, she had made an image of a human.

A male human.

The man appeared to be tall, but it was a drawing, so Philly couldn't tell how tall the man would be if he had been standing in front of her. He had dark hair that matched her own and she had left his eyes mostly blank, void a few shading lines that Philly could easily color around with colored pencils later on. He was dressed in a black jacket that was opened slightly, revealing the collar of an uncolored shirt, probably a long sleeve button-up or a hoodie, and a white shirt that was probably a tank top or a t-shirt. He had a pair of jeans on and a pair of shoes that looked like they could be either work boots or dress shoes, but Philly couldn't tell which. His darkly shaded hair was swept to the left side of his face. A lightly beard and mustache graced his face and, though he did look intimidating, Philly felt like the man was a protector of some sort.

Philly's sea green eyes glimmered happily as she looked at the picture. She had never drawn a person before. Well, at least not in such detail and certainly not without making it look like a melted Picasso painting. She was impressed. _'I should let myself do free hand sketching more often,'_ Philly thought as she looked at the guy. _'_ _I have got to show Greysen this! Hmm._ _I wonder why I drew this guy. Maybe it's just… Wait a minute. What on earth is_ _ **that**_ _?'_ Philly was so focused on what the man's appearance looked like that she almost missed what the man was holding in his right hand.

A silver trident with subtle etches in it's metallic surface.


	2. Αρχή όλων (Beginning of Everything)

_**I know it has been**_ _ **a little while**_ _ **since the last chapter, but**_ _ **I was really busy with my second job. In my spare time, though, I was writing since**_ _ **I just love writing this**_ _ **story**_ _ **so much that I just had**_ _ **to keep going**_ _ **no matter what**_ _ **.**_ _ **My Polyvore has a collection starting for this story. I'm still NiallHoransQueen on there for now.**_ _ **I will let you know if I change my username on there because I've been wanting to for a little while now.**_

 _ **Anyhow,**_ _ **i**_ _ **n response to your question,**_ _ **Qoheleth**_ _ **,**_ _ **Philly's**_ _ **name is short for Philomela.**_ _ **I didn't go into her full name that much, so I can understand the question,**_ _ **Philomela has two nicknames that I plan on using. I'll probably go back and forth between**_ _ **them; using "Mela" (pronounced Mee-luh) or the usual "**_ _ **Philly**_ _ **" later on.**_ _ **I read the story of Philomela and, since one of my classmates pointed it out to me as a good name for a Greek goddess, I decided to use**_ _ **it for this story.**_

 _ **Greek lesson time! Philomela comes from two Greek words, philos and melos, that mean "dear, sweet" and "song". It is usually translated into the obvious "sweet song" and the lesser known "nightingale." It is also a minor figure in Greek mythology. She is identified as being the princess of Athens. I will go into the story of what happened later on, but, be warned, it's a disgusting and morbid story, really.**_

 _ **Anyway… please, enjoy this highly delayed update!**_

* * *

 _BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

' _Five more minutes,'_ Philly groaned to herself as she rolled onto her stomach and shoved her hand out from under her blanket.

 _BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Urgh, no," Philly spoke, slapping at her phone. The device continued it's vexatiously monotonous tone until Philly's hand randomly poked at it's display and her finger slid the red light over to shut it off. It was the day of the field trip to the Greek and Roman Galleries exhibit at the museum. While Philly was sort of happy to go and get out of the school building for the day, she wasn't exactly thrilled to get out of bed.

She had gotten into bed around nine last night and had tossed and turned until she finally fell asleep around midnight. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly a happy camper.

Philly sat up reluctantly and swung her legs out of bed. The crisp morning air sent a few goosebumps across Philly's skin, making her shiver slightly before pulling herself out of bed and over to her window. She had forgotten to close it last night. After drawing the man with the trident, she had climbed back through her window and decided to color the picture due to her mind saying it just wasn't finished yet. Philly pushed on the small lip of the window and shoved the window closed, locking it as soon as it slid into the windowsill. Philly felt the last bit of wind send a shiver up her spine once more as she turned to walk over to her closet.

Philly quickly threw on some jeans, a plain, red t-shirt and a jean jacket with a star patch on each wrist cuff. Her sneakers were by the door of her room, but he had time to put those on later. Philly grabbed the notebook with the unfinished drawing and shoved it into her backpack along with her colored pencils and headphones. No doubt the day at the museum would be interesting at some points, but the dull spots could be easily filled with music or artwork. Philly zipped her bag and put on her sneakers before quickly grabbing a slice of leftover pizza from the kitchen and returning to her room to eat in peace.

The raven haired girl unlocked her phone and went on the internet for a bit, scrolling through different pages and looking at different people's photos. It didn't take long for the task to absorb the rest of her free time and, soon enough, she was getting her stuff together and heading out the door to school. Her best friend Greysen met her halfway there as per usual and the pair chatted on their way to the school. The buses were already ready upon their arrival, so all they needed to do was meet up with Mrs. Dodds and let her know they were there.

The bus ride, although loud due to the others around them, was spent mostly whispering about the drawing Philomela had done on the fire escape the previous night. "I don't know how it happened, G. It just _did._ I didn't even focus on what I was doing, I just let my hands do what they wanted while I sat there and contemplated the day," Philly mumbled with a soft grin.

"I don't know what to tell you," Greysen claimed with a shrug, "It's pretty cool though."

"Yeah, I guess." Philly tugged lightly on a strand of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. "I wonder what this means."

Greysen looked out the window for a second before turning to her friend once more, a reassuring smile on her face. "Maybe it means your ADHD is finding an outlet. Y'know, like electricity when you plug a cord into a socket? Maybe it's finding a way to channel itself into something productive instead of jumping all over the place."

"I doubt it. I'm still as squirrelly as I was before. I swear I'll need an asylum soon," Philomela played, knowing her friend's reaction would be the same as always.

Just as Philly suspected, Greysen rolled her eyes and quoted the same words she always repeated, "Squirrelly Jackson, you're just as sane as I am."

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Philly teased.

Greysen gasped in mock surprise and scoffed, shoving Philly so hard she almost fell out of her seat. "I may have crutches, but I can still hit you."

The girls shared a laugh as the bus pulled to a stop in front of the museum. The teachers gave their students a small lecture on what to do and what not to do once they got inside, but, as they'd already heard it a hundred times, Philly and Greysen barely paid any attention. Mrs. Dodds and Mr. Brunner were going to be leading their group through the museum, so the pair lined up with their group and headed for the stairs that lead inside. Philly stayed with her best friend a few paces behind everyone else. As they climbed the steps, a voice made Philly stop.

"Be prepared. Everything is about to change, Philly," a male voice with a rich accent spoke. Philly looked around. Greysen didn't seem to have taken notice of the voice, but Philly decided to continue listening as the voice continued, "Everything is about to change."

Philly's search appeared to have ended as she locked eyes with a man that was standing across the street from the museum. The man was an exact replica of her drawing! He looked just as intimidating as he had in her picture, but still carried the air of protectiveness about him. The only thing missing was the trident that her drawing held; this man didn't carry a trident at all. He watched Philly just as intensely as she watched him, their eye contact only broken when a bus drove by and forced it to stop. When the bus passed, the man was gone, making Philly wonder if the man was just a figment of her imagination or not. With a soft sigh and a shake of her head, Philly labeled the man as a sign of sleep deprivation and continued her trek into the building.

* * *

Once the tour of the museum started, Philly put her headphones in and started listening to some music, the first song being Secrets by One Republic. They wandered through the different parts of the Roman exhibit before heading to the Greek side of things. Mr. Brunner lead them to a room with great statues and artifacts and started talking about the different things in the room. Even with her headphones on, Philly could still hear most of what he was talking about, but she still got distracted every once in a while.

"There are twelve Olympian gods," Mr. Brunner started. "The big three are the brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. They attained power by overthrowing their father, Kronos, chopping him into little pieces. The three gods have been rivals ever since, always arguing, always threatening war."

Philly looked over her shoulder as she felt someone staring at her. It was her teacher, Mrs. Dodds. Philly looked at her for a moment, locking gazes with the woman and sending her a small grin before turning back to Mr. Brunner. _'That was weird. Not the first time I've done that to someone, but that's the first time someone's stared back for more than a millisecond. Maybe she wants me to take out my headphones or something. Even if she was just looking at me, that was kinda creepy.'_

The group started walking again, moving further into the room as Mr. Brunner continued talking. "On several occasions, they would come down to Earth and, um… How shall I put this?"

Greysen saw her chance to butt into the conversation and took it, "Hook up?" A few people in the group laughed as Mr. Brunner nodded a little at the wording.

"They would hook up with mortals. Thank you, Miss Underwood." Greysen smirked at Philly as the onyx haired teen shook her head. "The children of these unions were half god, half human. Can anyone tell me what they were called?" Mr. Brunner looked around at the teens for a moment before turning to Philly. "Philly."

When the girl didn't respond, Greysen turned to her and hit her shoulder lightly. "Mela." Philly turned to her friend as the dark skinned girl nodded to the man in the wheelchair.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Philly began as she pulled her headphones out of her ears. "What? What did you ask, Mr. Brunner?"

"What is the proper name of the offspring of a human and a god?" the man rephrased.

Philly thought for a moment before replying, "Demigod."

"Exactly," Mr. Brunner nodded. "Many became great heroes, like Hercules and Achilles. Can you name another?" Philly shrugged and shook her head lightly. "I'll give you a hint, Miss Jackson. He married Andromeda and also defeated Cetus."

Philomela thought for a moment, looking around the room helplessly for anything that might help her answer. Her eyes landed on the stone carving behind Mr. Brunner. The words at the top in ancient Greek, shifted around until the words were legible to Philomela. _'Perseus defeats Cetus… huh...'_ "Um.. Perseus?"

"Correct," Mr. Brunner claimed with a smile. The man lead the group a little further down to where a replica blanket was hung. "Now, along with the gods, there are, of course, Kings, Queens, and other royalty, as this, rather grotesque embroidery displays. Normally, this would be kept in another room as it is not something of direct relation to the gods. However, since the story does relate, in part, to them, it is kept here. This is the story of the sister's revenge. Can anybody tell me what this references?"

Lina, a red-headed girl that usually sat next to Philly in class, spoke up, "The story of Tereus? It was popularized by Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ , book six."

"Yes, very good." Mr. Brunner smiled, "I can simplify the story for you in a brief summary. Tereus was known, in Greek legend, as the king of Thrace or of Phocis, who married Procne, the daughter of the king of Athens, Pandion. Tereus seduced her sister Philomela after claiming that her sister was dead. To hide the guilt he had, he cut out Philomela's tongue so she couldn't tell her sister."

"Nasty," Greysen spoke out.

"Oh, yes. So, since she couldn't speak, Philomela worked the details into embroidery much like this replica and showed her sister. Procne got revenge by giving her husband their son as supper. He found out what they had done and chased them with an ax. The gods took pity on them and changed them all into birds. Tereus changed into a hoopoe, a hawk. Procne into a nightingale and Philomela into a swallow. However, in Ovid's version of the story, the sisters were switched, Procne being a swallow and Philomela a nightingale."

' _So,_ _ **that's**_ _where mom got my name?! That's a horrible story. Why on Earth would she choose_ _ **that**_ _?'_ Philomela griped to herself.

"Miss Jackson, your full name is Philomela, is it not?" Mr. Brunner asked.

"Yeah," Philly sighed. "Why?"

"Do not be discouraged by this story," Mr. Brunner said firmly, "Your name's meaning, when taken apart, means multiple things. It can mean anything from 'sweet song' to 'nightingale' or even 'strongest love'. I would ask your mother what her reasoning was for your name before you assume one thing or the other."

"Okay, I will." Philly nodded.

"Good," Mr Brunner smiled, leading the group over to another exhibit. "Now, over here, we have a depiction of Hercules defeating the Nemean lion. Hercules killed the beast with his bare hands and took the skin as a trophy."

"Philly." Philly felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Miss Dodds standing behind her.

"Yes, Mrs. Dodds?"

"We need to talk," the teacher spoke softly, yet firmly.

Philly thought over what she could've done wrong before speaking, "Okay."

Philly followed her teacher away from the group and over to a room just a little bit behind them. Mrs. Dodds opened the door for Mela and let her enter first. Philly looked around, the room held mostly vases and wasn't quite finished yet. There were construction rafters by one wall, a big set of window on the wall next to the rafters, multiple cases of priceless looking vases and other artifacts lining the rest of the room.

"Did I do something wrong?" Philly asked as the teacher followed her into the room and closed the door. When no answer greeted her, Philly turned, looking back by the door for the teacher. Philly could hear light fluttering, not unlike wings, but brushed it off. The place had a lot of windows and a lot of bight lights, moths weren't exactly out of the question. "Mrs. Dodds? Hello?"

Suddenly, a harsh, raspy voice called out to Philly from behind. "Where is it?"

Philly turned quickly and locked eyes with her teacher, whom now stood on the very top rafter. "Oh, whoa! Hey! Hey. Wow. How did you get up there?"

Mrs. Dodds didn't reply, but instead let out a piercing roar and jumped from the rafters, her body morphing into a giant moth-like creature with large wings and a face that looked like someone had skinned Voldemort from Harry Potter and gave him the teeth of a lion and the eyes of a squid.

Philly let out a gasp, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Philly ducked as the winged creature dove at her, narrowly missing as Philly hit the floor.

The teacher-turned-monster landed on top of an exhibit and growled at Philly, "You stole the lightning bolt!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Philly shrieked back as she tried to back away from the monster. The creature dove back down at Philly, not taking her explanation as the truth.

"Give it to me!" The monster grabbed Philly and lifted her up toward the window, most likely prepared to throw her out it if it meant Philly would give her the bolt. "Now! Or I will bite your heart out"

The door of the room slammed open and revealed Greysen and Mr. Brunner. "Philly!" the handicapped teen shouted. The creature growled at the new people.

"Release her!" Mr. Brunner yelled darkly.

"You!" The monster screeched.

Mr. Brunner refused to back down. "Release her or I swear I'll tear you to pieces!"

The monster hissed darkly and dove toward the floor yet again, making Philly shout in terror. The creature dumped Philly unceremoniously on the floor and screeched at the trio before furiously flying out the window. Philly gasped and got to her feet pacing the floor as she tried to clear her mind.

"Whoa, I'm going crazy!" Philly mumbled to herself. "Oh! I should be on medication. I should be on medication!"

"Philly," Greysen stated, "calm down, okay? Everything's gonna be okay!"

"Oh, God, wait!" Philly exclaimed, "Did that really just happen?! She just turned into that thing?!"

"A Fury concealed in our school..." Mr. Brunner said, "I should have known."

"Wait, a Fury? What's a Fury?" Philly gasped, "And why did you say you could tear her to pieces?"

Mr. Brunner changed the question, "What did she want from you?

"She said something about me stealing a lightning bolt."

Mr. Brunner's and Greysen's faces both shared the same look of dread and fear. "They've found her. She's in danger."

"Who found me?" Philly demanded to know.

Mr. Brunner shushed Philly lightly before turning to Greysen and whispering to her, "She's no longer secure here."

"Where should we move her?" Greysen asked quietly.

"We have no choice. The Camp." Mr. Brunner replied.

"Huh?" Philly interrupted breathlessly. "What camp? Look, I'm standing right here."

"If they think she's the thief, there's nowhere safe on heaven and Earth for her now." Mr. Brunner turned to Philly and pulled something from his pocket. "Philly, take this to defend yourself. It's a powerful weapon. Guard it well." Mr. Brunner held out a silver pen and Philly slowly took it from his grasp. "Only use it in times of severe distress."

Philly looked over the shiny pen before glancing incredulously at the teacher. "This is a pen. This is a pen!"

Ignoring the teenager's concern for her teacher's mental stability, Mr. Brunner turned to Greysen and took hold of the girl's sleeve. "Take her to her mother, and don't let her out of your sight."

Greysen nodded in understanding and turned to Philly. "Okay. Philly, come on. C'mon, girl. Come on!"

Philly pointed the pen at Greysen. "Are you guys crazy?"

"Let's go!" Greysen replied, leading Philly toward the building's exit.

"This is a pen, G. What the heck do you want me to do with this?"

Greysen ignored the statement and continued to move her friend toward the door. "Come on. I'll explain it all later, let's just go!"


End file.
